


Joy

by Saraku



Series: Those Who Seek [MarcoAce Week 2016] [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 22:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8865487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saraku/pseuds/Saraku
Summary: Family arguments were always ridiculous, but in this case, Marco could handle it so long Ace got to laugh in the end.





	

The sound of things breaking caught their attention.

“You know what this reminds me of?” Curiel retorted, twirling a gun with it’s safety on. “The time Ace kept trying to assassinate Pops.”

Rakuyo frowned. “I’d hope that ain’t the case. I’m done having to fix walls.”

“You mean, _Fossa’s_ done with fixing walls.”

Marco groaned, wondering why, once again, he seemed to be the only sane man in the crew. Their father didn’t count – he encouraged it. “Stop it, yoi,” Marco muttered, cutting in before Rakuyo could start. “I thought this had been settled a year ago.”

They reached the room the crew had dubbed ‘Fossa’s Workshop’ and knocked loudly on it. Their response was the sound of something being hammered and the sanding machine Marco didn’t bother to remember the name of. Irritated, Rakuyo slammed the door open.

“Oi, Fossa! What’s goin’ on – “

Silence.

Marco stepped into the room, hands in his pockets, clearly confused at the slack-jawed reaction of Curiel and Rakuyo’s frozen stance. In one of the workshop table, a sleek, yellow crescent boat, and masts with the symbol of their father etched on them were sitting on another table, clean and polished. Crouched at the side of the boat, a figure with dark hair was checking at the raft’s structure, blue goggles hiding their face.

“Ace?” Marco asked, blinking blankly at the lack of response. He exchanged looks with the other two commanders that were with him. “Ace!” The teen dropped the tools he had on his hand, muttering mild curses as they were close to dropping on his foot.  “Ace,” Marco repeated. The teen raised his head, turning his head their way and slicking hair back from his forehead before pulling the goggles down.

“Ace, what the hell are you doing?” Rakuyo asked, baffled by the sight of Ace covered in saw dust.

The teen blinked, then smiled sheepishly, tangling a hand in his hair. “… A raft.”

“A raft?” Curiel repeated, an incredulous look sported on his face. “What do you need a raft for?”

“Experiment! Ace chirped, swaying back and forth, and Marco noticed blue goggles were slung on Ace’s neck, covered in saw dust the same way Ace was. “I’ve had this idea since I became a pirate, so why not try it not with an actual expert to help me out?”

A muscled arm captured Ace in a headlock. “Would’tcha lookit that?” Fossa said, a large, smug grin on his face. “Was I just praised to be a master of ship buildin’?

Marco smirked at the sight of Ace’s surprised face, and bit back a comment when Rakuyo stepped up, a challenging look on his face. “A master?” He repeated. “Ace here didn’t call you a master – he called you an expert." Rakuyo turned his attention to Ace, who had stopped struggling to escape Fossa’s grip and seemed resigned in his fate. “He might be an expert, but _I’m_ the master here, Ace.”

Ace blinked as Fossa began to rant. “But Fossa’s the commander of the Fifteenth Division, which is mostly responsible for the ship’s structure and workings, right?”

Rakuyo scoffed, crossing his arms. Marco blinked – was his family really making a big deal of this?

“Doesn’t change a thing, little brother.” Ace spluttered. “I’m still better.”

Of course they were. Marco leaned on the wall and closed his eyes, sighing. It was only eleven, ad he was already getting a headache. “I’ll be back, yoi,” he said, rubbing his temple. “I need to talk to Oyaji.”

Curiel waved him off. “I’ll watch over them. What a time to be alive, huh?”

Marco chuckled in response.

Stepping back on-deck, Marco inhaled, enjoying the scent of fresh air as his head cleared; the silence did wonders for him, because it was damn hard to get peacefulness in a ship with over sixteen-hundred people on-board. Booming laughter attracted his attention, and he smiled peacefully at the sight of Whiteeard grinning towards the island.

The talk could wait later. Might as well enjoy the peacefulness now.

“C-Commander Marco!”

Marco turned around to see one of the members of his division, Kaede, run up to him with a horrified look. “What is it?” Kaede was one of those that never called him Commander, so it had to be urgent when he used the honorific.

“Curiel – Fossa and Rakuyo – _insanity_.”

Marco groaned, putting a hand up to massage his temple. “Troublemaking… Thank you, Kaede.”

Kaede nodded, and Marco dashed back below deck, because whatever chaos had ensued warranted the use of his stamina.

Five minutes. Marco had gone for _five minutes_ , and he was sure all hell had broken loose below deck. He was glad that they had been docked at an island, or else everyone – _everyone_ – would have been gathered there.

Upon entering, Marco let flames come to life, eyes burning. “That’s enough,” he said, voice clipped and eyes narrowed; he was pleased to see Curiel put his hands behind his back and whistle innocently while Fossa dropped Rakuyo before the latter would accidentally shoot Ace in the face (and subsequently, the wall, which would have started _another_ argument with Fossa) with Curiel’s gun. “Ace.” The teen looked at Marco – who twitched at how _adorable_ Ace looked flustered – curiously. “Do you still need Fossa’s help?” He didn’t want to ask what the hell had gone on to have caused such chaos.

They met eyes, and Marco’s held the warning to choose his answer carefully, lest he has to kick them all off the ship like children on time-out. “Nah, I got it.” Curiel visibly deflated with relief at Ace’s answer. “Though... Oh! Marco! I need to go for a test run; mind watching over it?

Marco couldn’t bring himself to refuse, even with the headache. The smile Ace gave didn’t help his situation.

 

~~*~~*~~

 

Rakuyo and Fossa’s friendly rivalry was going to be the death of him, Marco was sure. He had just helped Ace deposit the raft – “I’m calling ‘em Striker!” – onto the water and made sure it didn’t sink when all hell had broken loose once again. Curiel decided that shooting a bazooka into the waters was the best way to shut them up.

“You okay?” Ace asked, head tilted in worry as Marco rolled his eyes and ignored the three further away from the shore.

“Yeah, just tired from their shenanigans, yoi.” Marco got a warm, tight hug in response and the Phoenix felt stress melt away. “Ready to get started then?”

“Mm.” Ace hummed, jumping onto Striker and stretching his muscles. “Gonna catch me if I fall or something goes wrong, right?”

Marco smirked. “Of course, brat.” With that, Marco promptly flew back to the _Moby Dick_ , leaning on the riling and muscles tense, ready for whatever hell Ace was going to cause. The raven stomped his feet on the raft, testing its buoyancy, before he inhaled deeply. Silence danced in the wind, even Fossa and Rakuy had ceased their arguing. Ace let fire consume his legs –

Then the mini-boat came to _life._

“W-Woah!” Ace shouted as he stumbled, clearly not expecting it. “This – this was _not part of the plan_!”

Marco jumped on the railing, eyes trained on Ace should something happen –

“ _Marco!”_

– and the Phoenix emerged, flying swiftly towards the speeding raft that was out of control and spluttering with flames –

And then Ace _laughed_. Marco nearly froze in mid-air to his shock, but quickly regaining his nerve and gliding closer to the raft, it wasn’t out of control; no, if anything was out of control, it was the pure, breathtaking laughter. Fire flew up to him, and he looked down, watching Ace dance with the flames and the teen was inviting Marco over; with a strong gust of wings, he dove for the raft and smoothly nestled himself on the mast, the speedy wind on his face enthralling.

“Hehahaha! Thanks for your help, Marco!” Ace shouted, eyes gleaming and full of affection. Marco squawked in response as Ace tossed him a grin. Marco cawed, dropping from th mast and matching the raft’s speed to nuzzle Ace’s cheek before soaring back to the _Moby Dick_.

Ace’s laughter carried across the wind, reaching the crew easily as Ace happily sped around on his raft. Marco smiled, sighing softly a he rested his chin on his hand, calmly looking at the logia speeding around.           

_What a time to be alive, indeed._

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3 - Laugh. Late, yes; I had no plans on doing this until the idea I had for Day 5 wouldn't make sense/won't be as effective without this.  
> ...ffs. This was supposed to be 600 words long.


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